Here's Why You Should Add Geese To Your Homestead
We started our farm last year, in 2021. We spent several months looking for Magpie ducks until we finally found a breeding quad available for sale and brought them home 2 days before Christmas in 2021. We also bought hatching eggs from another breeder and we were so excited when 12 of our first ducklings hatched out of that set of eggs.
Unfortunately, we lost those ducklings to a threat we had no idea about - snakes. As second-year farmers, we're now well-versed on the realities of snakes, but at that point we struggled with multiple 3-5 foot long snakes invading our duck pen every day. So, when the opportunity arose for us to bring home a young pair of White Chinese Geese, we jumped on it.
Luckily, we have not had any problems with snakes ever since we got the geese. Why?
Benefits Of Having Geese As Flock Protectors
Geese are naturally defensive birds. They are territorial and very alert. Anytime something seems a little off, our gander goes on high alert, and does not hesitate to lift his wings, hiss, honk, and run after potential threats. This hyper awareness and willingness to check out and fight against almost anything is a formula that makes geese excellent flock protectors.
The downside to this is that sometimes geese can be a little mean to us humans, but frequently picking up, feeding, and otherwise interacting with geese goes a long way to taming them. Our pair of geese is mostly gentle around our children, however, they are not ever allowed unsupervised near the geese. We immediately correct the geese's behavior if they start to square up with our kids.
Just as with livestock guardian dogs, getting your geese young and raising them with the flock you want them to protect encourages them to protect and be friendly friendly towards that flock. We got our geese at about six months old, which was a little late for socializing them to the ducks, but they did live with a very small flock of ducks before we got them and were very involved in the socialization process. Now, we can leave the geese unsupervised with our flock of ducks with no issues.
Another benefit to geese is that they are less expensive than other livestock guardian breeds. A quality livestock guardian dog may cost hundreds of dollars, plus vet bills, heart worm prevention, and expensive dog feed. A livestock guardian llama or donkey may require an even bigger initial investment and significantly more maintenance fees than a pair of geese.
Our monthly costs for our geese include about one 50lb bag of waterfowl food, plus daily free-range access so they can forage. They do not have vet bills, farrier bills, heart worm prevention, and the pair of them cost us $20. You can get a gosling for as little as $15 each. All of this together means that geese, as a flock protector, are the most economical option.
Information On Snakes And Hearing
Common Saying #1: Geese are loud, which scares away snakes.
Common Saying #2: All snakes are deaf.
The Truth: Some snakes are sensitive to vibrations from loud sounds, and some snakes are sensitive to airborne sounds. There seems to be a strong correlation between the species of snake and their ability to sense sounds and vibrations, and what their reaction is, rather than a singular response that is consistent across all snake breeds (Zdenek et. al)
Anecdotal evidence from owners of geese will tell you that the honks of their geese typically scare snakes away, although it is hard to distinguish why exactly that is. One possibility is that goose honks are known to have a frequency that is similar (slightly higher) than the frequency that elicited the strongest reaction from the snakes in the study.
Several retailers offer a device that plays high-pitched vibrations, claiming that these devices will scare snakes away, however, there is little evidence that these vibrations have any better effects than the other snake repellent methods available.
Downsides Of Having Geese As Flock Protectors
As great as geese have been for us in protecting against predators, and as much as the amount of predators on our farm has easily been cut in half or more, they do have downsides to be aware of before getting a set of geese.
Similar to ducks, geese are very messy and require a constant water source. Unlike ducks, they take better care of the grass and do not have a penchant for turning any area they touch intro straight mud, but they do poop a lot and are very messy with their water. Geese also need a constant fresh water source that is at least deep enough to dip their beak into so they can clean out their nostrils. They will muddy up this water source, so it needs to be changed and cleaned frequently.
Geese eat a lot more than ducks
Lastly, geese can kill smaller poultry or ducks if not introduced carefully. As stated above, getting your geese young and raising them with your flock is one of the best ways to make sure this won't happen. They won't necessarily get attached to certain animals, so, for example, as long as you raise them with chickens from the beginning, you should be able to add or take away other chickens without any problems. Do be extremely careful integrating geese of any age with your flock, and always be on the lookout for signs of aggression or attacking.
Do you or did you keep geese with your flock? Share your experience in the comments below!
Zdenek, C., Staples, T., Hay, C., Bourke, L., & Candusso, D. (2023, February 14). Sound garden: How snakes respond to airborne and Groundborne Sounds. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0281285